


Broken Memories

by ToxicNature



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Karl Jacobs-centric, Karl's forgetting, M/M, No beta we die like everyone in the City of Mizu, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Time Travelling Karl Jacobs, Web Series: Tales from the SMP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29317518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicNature/pseuds/ToxicNature
Summary: Karl looks at their faces, their clothes, their mannerisms. They look at him with so much recognition and love. He racks his brain so hard, trying to think. To know why they look at him so dearly.And he can’t for the life of him remember.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs, Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity & Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Sapnap, Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Comments: 11
Kudos: 396





	Broken Memories

Karl steps back through the portal and reorients himself from his trip. It had ended just about as pleasantly as most of them, but he made some progress in the Inbetween.

He writes down everything that happened in the appropriate books while it’s still fresh in his mind. 

With a quick glance through the diary, he stores everything where they’re supposed to go, and heads back out of his library.

The library has been moved by this point, so he has to walk back to get into the main smp.

Karl never knows how long he’s gone, so he looks around. It’s still the same for the most part, maybe some new looking builds in progress, and the Blood Vines are still ever growing. He has to stop this, he knows he can help everyone on the server, he must be close now to the truth. 

Just as he’s about made a round through the main server, he hears his name being called.

He looks over and sees two black haired men running up to him, waving with smiles.

They stop in front of him, one wearing a beanie having to stop longer to catch his breath than the other, who takes the lead in asking, “Karl, it’s been a while, where have you been? You’ve been gone longer than we thought, we were starting to get worried.”

Karl looks at the faces of the two men, the other one recovering and looking up at him with a big smile, but there’s something underlying it. Concern twists it as he looks back at Karl.

Karl looks back at the other man, looking at him expectantly. 

But Karly completely blanks.

Their expressions become more worried the longer Karl stands there, looking between them.

“Karl? Are you okay? Did something happen?”

The one with the bandana asks worriedly, concern on his face spreading. In his eyes, though, there is a fire. Like he would burn anyone that hurt him.

Karl looks back to the one in the beanie, and sees the same concern and something else. 

The one in the beanie reaches out, putting a comforting hand on Karl’s arm, and Karl realizes the look is love, “is everything alright?”

Karl looks at their faces, their clothes, their mannerisms. They look at him with so much recognition and love. It causes him to rack his brain so hard, trying to think. To know why they look at him so dearly, and he can’t for the life of him remember.

He knows he’s been forgetting more lately, but this is two whole people. Something lodges in his throat as he asks, “I-I’m sorry, but- who are you? Who are you to me?”

Shock and confusion flit across their faces, before the hand squeezes his arm and the man laughs nervously, “okay, very funny Karl”, but there’s something unsure as he says, “we’re your fiances, remember?”

Fiances.

He looks back at the other man, who puts on a strained smile.

Karl’s eyes are wide.

FIANCES.

As panic sets in, the two look at each other seriously, realizing he’s not joking.

“F-fiances? I have fiances?” Karl grabs his head, trying desperately to remember this.

A fiance is big, it's a huge deal to become so close to someone that a proposal would happen, but TWO? How could he forget two of the probably most important people in his life?

They say something, but Karl doesn’t hear, his mind clouded with panic, chest heaving. 

He needs-

He needs to get to his library, maybe-maybe there’s something in his diary that will help!

Karl stumbles back, away from the hand that had been loosely holding his arm this whole time, “I’m sorry, I need-”, he starts, but in his stumbling he trips, falling flat on his ass. 

They both rush to help Karl, who doesn’t have the strength to get back up, as he mutters, “I don’t- how could- this shouldn’t”, not able to get a single coherent sentence out, his thoughts whorling. 

This shouldn’t, it shouldn’t be this bad, he’s so close he shouldn’t. If he’s lost something this big then what does that mean for him? 

How much longer does he have before he completely loses himself? 

He’s so close he can feel it, why does this have to happen?

If he could just get through that damn castle faster, find the answers to his memory problems, then none of this would be happening.

Karl thinks he hears, “shit, babe- Karl, breath”, through his fog, but he just shakes his head and curls in on himself.

He numbly feels a comforting hand on his back, tears pricking to his eyes as he mumbles out apologies.

He’s sorry.

He didn’t mean to forget them.

He’s so close.

He just needs to fix everything.

He didn’t mean to forget them.

He’s so sorry he forgot them.

Karl stutters out, getting worked up until he’s sobbing into his knees. His hands grip painfully in his hair as he tries to resurface his memories, like he can pull them out of his brain with force.

He feels his fingers get gently pried out of his hair, one hand being held securely, one landing on a chest, which carefully and pointedly breathes in and out.

He thinks he hears, “breathe, please”, and he tries his best to match the breathing, hiccups breaking it apart at first.

Slowly but surely, Karl’s breathing evens out, and his head becomes clearer.

He finally lifts his head up, dried tear stains down his cheeks, when he realizes that their eyes are also red and puffy.

The chest his hand is pressed against belongs to the one with the beanie. The other hand simply being held by the one with a bandana, who is also rubbing his back comfortingly.

Karl sniffles, and weakly tries to rub his eyes on his sleeve, as both hands are occupied. 

He still doesn’t remember them, but a fond gratefulness grips his heart.

“Are you okay now?” The one in the beanie asks, moving his hand to also hold it, giving it a squeeze.

Karl lowers his head, “I still don’t remember you two, sorry, but, thanks for helping me out.”

There’s a pause before the fiery one responds, “I guess we’ll just have to woo you again, 50 First Dates style.”

That stifles a laugh out of Karl, and the other one, who teases, “wow Sapnap, I didn’t know you watched romcoms like that.”

“What are you talking about? You’re the one who suggested it for movie night one time!” The other one, Sapnap, argues back.

Karl watches the brewing argument with a tired smile. He can see how he fell for these two.

“Hey”, he interrupts, and they both pause to look at him, all this attention causing him to become slightly flustered, “I- I still don’t know your guys’ names.”

“Oh!” They both look at each other, before grinning, “I’m Quackity, and that sap is SapitusNapitus.”

“I’m not a sap!” He argues, “and it’s just Sapnap! Don’t confuse him like that!”

“Why not, I say it’s time to reinvent yourself Sapitus~”.

“Oh like you reinvented yourself, Alex?”

Karl’s smile becomes more genuine as he watches the ridiculous argument start once again.

He looks down at the hands still tightly gripping his. 

Sapnap’s hand is strong, and warm, while Quackity’s is softer, more gentle.

“Guys”, he interrupts once again, and once again gets their full undivided attention. That probably shows just how much they care, their silly arguments more out of hiding their worry.

“I need to go see something, um, do- do you two know about the Library?” He asks. It is a good test, he remembers the book in the Inbetween telling him to not only move the library, but to also tell people he trusts. While he doesn’t think they’re lying, he knows that that library of his is the ultimate trust.

Recognition flashes in their eyes, and Sapnap says, “yeah, you told us about the library”.

“I searched for you there a couple of times while you were gone,” Quackity adds on.

Karl nods, a smile on his face, “well, can we go there, I have- something I need to check on”.

They both nod as well, and help him back on his feet, Karl still being shaky and tired after his panic attack, and trip through time.

The two black haired boys are more than happy to help him walk, filling the silence with more funny comments, and silly arguments about nothing important.

Karl honestly appreciates it.

They all make it to the library, and leads them into the secret bit, and they seem surprised. Whether they haven’t seen this part, or if it’s just that there’s more new stuff, Karl doesn’t concern himself with it. He heads straight to the chest in the corner and pulls out his diary. If anything should be in here, his fucking FIANCES should be in here. 

He doesn’t know why he wants to confirm it, they are so genuine, and they know about the library. Maybe he’s still holding out hope that he’ll remember them. Maybe he just wants to see if there’s anything at all on them.

He flips through, but for the most part, it’s all about the Inbetween. How he needs to remember but, aside from the Inbetween, nothing about what he needs to remember specifically. 

Karl decides he’s gonna be more specific from now on.

He keeps flipping, even through the empty pages, to see if there’s anything at all, but he’s just disappointed. 

Until he gets to the last page, which has written on it, “For Karl, From Sapnap and Quackity <3”, the names written in different handwritings.

He looks back at the two rambling about books, and the stories in them, laughing amongst themselves, not in any way quietly, then back down at the book.

Closing it, he looks at the cover, and instead of the typical swirl he would put on his journals, he sees a messily carved in fire and wings, in completely different styles. It’s silly, and messy. Imperfect in a perfect way.

It draws a font smile on his face as he leans against the wall where he sits.

When Sapnap turns to Karl, to try and get back up in the latest argument, he sees Karl has fallen asleep. He instantly gets quiet, not wanting to disturb him.

Quackity also turns to see the scene, Karl curled around the journal they had made for the man. They thought it was a brilliant gift after hearing of all the writing he’d been doing.

They exchange a fond smile, before turning back to Karl.

Sapnap gently picks him up, Quackity grabbing the journal, and they head home, to put Karl in a comfortable bed. 

They’ll need to talk when he wakes up, seriously talk, but for now, they’ll rest, curled with him. And no matter what is happening to him, they’ll be here for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahaha pain but also comfort?
> 
> This came to me after seeing all the different Karlnapity angst, everyone always has Sapnap and Quackity being devistated, but what about Karl? Karl KNOWS he's been forgetting things, so how would HE react, knowing that, when two people come up to Karl and say they're engaged.
> 
> I don't think he'd be okay with that >:)
> 
> But it's okay, because 50 First Dates says it can work out. (TBH 50 first days was one of my fav movies for the longest time so I also kind of like that comparison lol)((Also, Karl was 100% the one to buy that movie in the first place ;) ))


End file.
